The buyer is a private investment group including Houlihan-Parnes Realtors LLC and C.L.K. Management Corp. Salomon Smith Barney advised New Plan in the transaction. Roughly $55 million of the gross proceeds from the sale will be used to pay off existing mortgage debt on the garden apartment communities.

Short-term plans for the remaining proceeds are to pay down New Plan's existing debt. Down the road, leftover cash from the sale will be used to spruce up the REIT's core shopping-center portfolio, repurchase public equity or debt or in the pursuit of new acquisitions. The portfolio comprises 53 garden-apartment communities, leaving New Plan with roughly 250 properties after the sale.

The only loose end in what appears to be a tightly closed deal is an Alabama-based property, the Club Apartments. The community is currently under contract to be sold separately to the Homewood City Board of Education, Homewood, AL. The sale is slated to close within 30 days, but in the event that it does not go through, the buyer of the portfolio is obligated to purchase the property.